Cory Sweeney’s New Zealand women’s 7s team will make a comeback to the 7s circuit after missing out on some major HSBC competitions in the 2022-2023 series.
The Black Ferns 7s jetted into the country on Sunday to participate in the inaugural Mini 7s International tournament which will be played at Albert Park in Suva this weekend.
While the Kiwis are excited to feature in the tournament, Sweeney said they will be focusing on their physicality and build on their games as they prepare for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“We are stoked to be in Fiji. It’s pretty cold at home in New Zealand. We came here for a bit of warm weather. The girls are excited and are connecting really well to the environment here. We are looking forward to the first 7s since the end of the World 7s series last year.”
“We have been through a foundation phase over a few months. We haven’t played since Toulouse last year and there are a couple of things around such as connection as a group. We come over as one team supporting and looking over each other in the games that we play. We start building our games and physical strength against other teams.”
“We have just come back from leave and our big piece of work this week is that we physically test ourselves since the game of sevens is fast and with this heat, we want to slowly start building up our games.”
While this is the first time for the team to travel together after last year’s Toulouse 7s in France, he also revealed the current 19-member squad includes 18 senior players and one fresh leg.”
“We’ve got 19 players and one of them is a 19-year-old girl who has joined us for the first time, Jamie Coulson. She has come out of the FPC and is an exciting young talent.”
“We have 18 other contracted players with us, who have been with the program for a while. This is the first time we have travelled with a full squad overseas which is one new experience and everyone is thriving at the same time.”
“Some of the teams have been playing but we haven’t and that’s a test for us looking at the challenge. I feel this could be harder than the World 7s Series tournament. Australia has got a wide and developed group here. Fiji is always strong and they are a great challenge for us whereas France is looking sharp.”
New Zealand will open their campaign against Australia at 9.50am on Friday at Albert Park in Suva.
